Even Assholes like Tony Stark can be Understanding
by Dolphin64575
Summary: When Clint's hearing aids are taken out during a mission, he has to rely on his and Natasha's broken ASL to communicate. Worse, he has to tell the rest of his team about his disability. Rated T for cussing. Combination 'Avengers Assemble' cartoon and Marvel Cinematic Universe. Imagine whichever universe character you like. x-posted to Ao3 deaf clint barton


Author's Note:  
>Words in all caps are signs. Signed words connected with a hyphen are one sign for that phrase (such as 'NOT-OKAY' is the sign for 'OKAY' but the signer shakes their head). This is how I was taught to write sign when I took ASL classes. Words divided into individual letters by hyphens are fingerspelled. Clint and Natasha switch between Signed Exact English (using signs with regular English word order) and using American Sign Language word order (which can be incredibly confusing for hearing people to learn).<p>

"Shit." Clint muttered as his world went silent. Of course Tony didn't warn anyone before setting off an EMP. Sure, it took MODOK and the Adaptoid out, but it also hit everyone's comms, Iron Man's suit, and Clint's hearing aids. Iron Man rebooted a few seconds later, and those on the mission were all in one place so comms were unnecessary for now, Tony could liase with the tower from his helmet, but it was a hassle for Clint to shoot a grappling arrow and duck away for a second to swap his hearing aids to his spares. "Shit!" He hissed as the pocket on his quiver turned up empty, not even new batteries. He remembered then, he was wearing his spares, his regular hearing aids had gotten busted a few days ago in a training exercise. Luckily everyone else had been too busy to notice him changing to his spares. It wasn't every day his hearing aids took a hit, so he didn't consider getting replacements a priority. One thing for sure, he would now. "Hey Widow, can we talk in private?" He called, hoping he sounded normal.

A few seconds later his best friend rounded the corner. He watched her lips move, but his lip reading was really rusty, and he'd never been the best at it, he couldn't make out any of what she said. He pointed to his ears and shook his head.'I HELP HOW?' She signed, furrowing her brow and tilting her head to convey that it was a question.  
>'S-P-A-R-E YOU HAVE?' He fingerspelled the word hopefully. She shook her head with a frown, then held up a finger as she called over her shoulder.<br>'I TELL WAIT ONE-MINUTE.' She signed to him. They had a few more seconds before Steve and Tony would come investigate.  
>'S-H-I-T HEAR ME SAY YOU?' He asked, not sure how loud his frustration had been. She nodded with a frown. 'I S-L-U-R?'<br>'YOU CALL ME' She nodded. It was more apparent the more words he said, and the louder he spoke.  
>'THEM NOTICE?' He asked, fearing the answer. She shrugged with a frown. 'I NEED TELL THEM?' He slipped into SEE, ASL word order was too difficult right now.<br>'P-R-O-B-A-B-L-Y.' Nat frowned. 'YOU WANT ME?' Clint frowned at the ground, then nodded.  
>'SORRY.' He signed. She repeated the gesture, knowing this was hard for him, rubbing his shoulder with her free hand. He took a deep breath before rappelling back down to the others.<p>

He watched Natasha's lips move and Steve frown as she explained. It didn't take long. Her gaze shot to Tony, his faceplate retracting. Clint watched as he said something, then Nat frowned and fired a retort. Clint smiled at her in thanks.  
>'LIPREAD?' She asked. He grimaced and shook his head.<br>'YOU INTERPRET F-O-R NOW?' He asked, not wanting to speak when he couldn't self-regulate his voice. She nodded, her gaze shooting to Steve. Clint waited while the man spoke.  
>'YOU HAVE S-P-A-R-E HOME?' She asked. Clint shook his head again.<br>'BROKE. I STUPID.' Clint hit his head hard on the sign.  
>'NOT-STUPID.' Nat frowned. Her gaze flicked to Tony. 'T-O-N-Y WANT SEE?' Clint frowned as he considered. His hearing aids were a part of him. Very few people knew they even existed. But perhaps the techie genius could fix it somehow. He pulled the one with comms in it out of his pocket and surrendered it to the man. Tony looked it over for a second before asking Nat a question. 'T-O-N-Y WANT PLAY?' Clint frowned. He hated how everyone immediately deferred to Nat since she was interpreting for him, like he wasn't there.<br>'LITTLE. FIX DON'T-BREAK.' He stated. Nat relayed the instructions and Tony gave him a thumbs up. Clint startled at a hand on his shoulder and swung on instinct, Steve easily ducking his fist and holding his own hands up. 'SORRY.' He frowned. Steve glanced at Natasha as she interpreted, then simply smiled at Clint, patting his shoulder. He scowled, hating the pity. His teammates would never see him the same again. He and Nat were already the weakest of the Avengers, being the top SHIELD agents didn't amount to much when everyone else had some sort of supernatural enhancement. He was already delegated to keeping the civilians safe most of the time, would they even consider him worth keeping around now? Nat's waving hand entered his vision, breaking him out of his thoughts.

'PHONE YOU HAVE?' She asked. He patted all his pockets and frowned, shaking his head.  
>'HOME.'<br>'BRAND-NEW WORK M-I-S-S-I-O-N YOU-AND-ME TOGETHER.' He nodded and followed her. Natasha and Steve grabbed new comms from the Avenjet. Clint thought of something and tapped Natasha's shoulder.  
>'TELL T-O-N-Y NEXT E-M-P TELL EVERYONE.' The man looked suitably humbled as Nat spoke, but apparently made a comment as he turned away, earning him a hard smack from Steve. Clint didn't need to read lips to practically hear the dark-haired man's 'Ow! What was that for?', then Steve gestured to Clint as he was speaking, Tony interrupting. Nat was trying to interpret, but the men were speaking too fast, talking over each other, and neither of the SHIELD agents had practiced sign recently. 'LATER.' Clint told her dismissally, turning away from the argument. 'WORK NOW.' He could guess that Tony was being an ass and Steve was trying to defend the archer. He tried to ignore the fact that they were talking about him as they flew to their sudden new mission, Nat occasionally waving to get his attention and ask him a question or give him information about the mission.<p>

The mission was a relatively simple one, supervillians in a bank with hostages. Nat and Clint took a perch on a nearby building to stop the escape if things went south; Tony and Steve heading inside to stop the heist and get the civilians out. At least they were still finding ways for him to be useful for now. He relaxed slightly as he crouched on a ledge with Natasha, more comfortable with a stone wall at his back and his partner keeping an ear out. He watched as the police talked amongst themselves, a few even driving away once the Avengers were on scene. He should check online at some point, he mused as they waited, and see if any deaf fans had come up with namesigns for their codenames. At least his best friend's nickname was incredibly easy to fingerspell. He kept an eye out for anything suspicious as Captain America helped the hostages run out in small groups.

He watched a single man run out the back door to an armored car, chased by repulsor blasts and a shield. That was all the signal they needed. Iron Man's shots took care of the back tires, but still the man tried to drive. Black Widow's stings took out the front tires as an electrical arrow shot through the hood of the car to short the battery. The man gave up after that, emerging with his hands in the air. Clint walked quickly into the jet, not wanting to risk having to sign in front of all the civilians.

Steve waved to get his attention, signing 'YOU ARCHERY' and a thumbs up. Great, more things Clint hated about being deaf, pity and people who didn't know sign trying to sign to him.  
>'STOP SIGN. YOU TELL N-A-T.' Clint scowled at the man. Sure, he could basically understand what Steve meant, but he wasn't in the mood for charades. He waited for her to translate for Steve, and then for the soldier's response.<br>'S-T-E-V-E TELL YOU HELP A-LOT.' Nat told him. Clint suppressed the urge to roll his eyes, his face stony. 'UNDERSTAND?' Nat asked at the lack of response. He nodded and pointedly leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms and shutting his eyes. He hoped his teammates would take the hint to leave him alone.

Clint sat up and opened his eyes as the Avenjet slowed and descended, heading to his room once they landed. He knew he didn't have another pair of hearing aids, but perhaps he had a battery to put in his regular hearing aid. Half hearing was better than being completely deaf. He should probably ask SHIELD for a few new pairs of hearing aids so this was less likely to happen in the future.

After tearing his room apart, Clint sat on his bed and accepted that he didn't have any spare batteries. How could he be so stupid? He had to go find Nat and ask her to accompany him to the pharmacy or something. He put his head in his hands, hating relying on others to have his 6. He felt vibrations, automatically reaching for his phone before he realized the vibration had come from the floor, not his pocket. He looked up, Nat and Steve smiling at him worriedly. He could tell from the strength of the vibrations and the pair's stances that Nat was the one who'd stomped. Steve had probably not wanted to risk touching his shoulder and getting punched.  
>'OKAY?' Nat asked.<br>'I DON'T-HAVE BATTERY. I DEAF.' He scowled at his stupidity. He knew Nat was translating for Steve, her lips barely moving.  
>'T-O-N-Y WORK.'<br>'I KNOW. DONE TIME WHAT?'  
>'SOON?' The redhead frowned. 'THE-TWO-OF-US SIT?' She gestured to herself and Steve. Clint shoved things off his bed and moved to the side. 'S-T-E-V-E HAVE A-LOT QUESTION. I TELL WHAT I KNOW. OKAY?'<br>'TELL BEFORE?' He asked. She shook her head. She was asking his permission to reveal the archer's past, not forgiveness. Clint deliberated. He trusted his teammates. But he wanted to know what they'd be saying. What if Nat remembered wrong and made a mistake or divulged more than Clint cared to share? Their ASL was really rusty, and they were never that proficient, if she was going to interpret for him they'd be fingerspelling a lot. Her waving hand broke him out of his thoughts again.  
>'NOT-OKAY. I-UNDERSTAND. S-T-E-V-E WRITE-DOWN.' She stood as the man smiled nervously and handed Clint a piece of paper on a clipboard. It read like a test, each question having space underneath for the answer. When Clint glanced up his best friend was gone, undoubtedly trusting him to converse with Steve through writing. Clint searched for a pen, Steve handing him one a second later. He nodded in thanks.<p>

'When did you become deaf?' Steve's handwriting was like the cursive banner above chalkboards in school classrooms. 'As an adult.' Clint wrote.  
>'Is ASL hard to learn?' 'It depends on if you're good with languages and the amount of work you put into learning.' Just like any other language.<br>'Is it scary?' Clint frowned at the question, pointing to it and looking up at Steve. Was ASL scary? He didn't understand the question. 'DEAF... SORRY.' The man signed hesitantly, clumsily. Clint was slightly surprised he'd picked up the signs. 'Being deaf isn't scary anymore.' Clint wrote. 'I trust you guys to have my back. It's just really annoying and frustrating.' He underlined the 'really'.  
>'Will it ever get better?' 'No.'<br>'Why all the facial expressions?' Clint smiled wryly, guessing his and Nat's conversations looked rather odd to the others, used to the spies' poker faces. 'For tone and inflection, like changing a statement into a question. Sometimes it's part of the sign.'  
>'Why did you stop talking when your hearing aids were shorted out?' 'I can't hear myself, I don't know if I'm being too loud or slurring or anything.'<br>'Did you and Natasha learn ASL together?' 'Yes, as did Phil Coulson and Director Fury.'

He handed the clipboard back to Steve, the man reading through his answers quickly before hesitantly reaching for the pen. Clint quickly gave it back to him, reading over his shoulder as he wrote.  
>'What can I do to help?' Clint shook his head at his friend and stood.<br>'FOOD.' He signed in explanation as he left. It was one of the most self-explanatory signs. Steve followed, writing again.  
>'Will you teach me ASL?' Clint glanced at the paper after throwing a bag of popcorn in the microwave. He shrugged and nodded. Steve pointed to the microwave.<br>'MICROWAVE. INSIDE POPCORN.' Clint wasn't sure which sign he was being asked for, so he supplied both. Steve copied the signs before writing again.  
>'What about in between words? The, it, is...' Clint took the pen back.<br>'Implied.'

They spent a while eating popcorn and walking around the tower, Steve pointing to things and Clint signing. They occasionally wrote, the clipboard, paper, and pen getting buttery from their fingers. Steve pointed behind Clint and he turned around to see what sign his friend was asking for, to find Nat in civilian clothes, something tucked in her coat. He knew the blond wasn't asking for the sign, but alerting him to her presence, but he still fingerspelled her name. 'N-A-T-A-S-H-A.' He fingerspelled to Steve, face deadpan as the soldier tried to keep up with the rapid letters he had yet to memorize. She gently smacked his hand down, slowly spelling N-A-T so Steve could understand the shapes.  
>'YOU HAVE WHAT?' Clint asked. She smiled and pulled out the newest comic book of one of the series he was following, along with a six-pack of the batteries his hearing aids took.<br>'THANK-YOU.' He smiled sincerely before heading back to his room to put a battery in his hearing aid.

"That's better." Clint smiled as he emerged from his room. Half hearing was way better than none. "Thanks, 'Tasha." She gave him a ghost of a smile at the little-used nickname.  
>"Thanks for the impromptu lesson." Steve smiled, signing THANK-YOU. "I'll have to pick up a book on that."<p>

The three of them were sitting around the TV with captions on when they heard footsteps approaching.  
>"Don't try it, Tony." Steve warned, otherwise making no indication that he knew the man was in the room.<br>"Not a good plan." Nat's lips barely moved. Clint caught a reflection of Tony's outline in the TV, he was holding something approximately one foot across. Clint didn't react, waiting to see what the genius would do. He heard a dull shift and liquid. Tony had a bucket full of ice water and was going to try to dump it on the deaf guy, not knowing Clint had one working hearing aid. Clint waited, listening to the position of the bucket and Tony's shoes, watching the reflection. Now! Clint's hand shot up, knocking the ice water all over Tony. He smirked as the man shouted in surprise, prank foiled. "Of all the juvenile..." Nat broke off in a sigh as Steve chuckled. Clint grinned, Tony wasn't going to treat him any different because of his disability.

"Even when I don't have my hearing aids in, don't try to sneak up on me." Clint told Tony. "Cap found that out the hard way."  
>"Hey." Tony whistled to one of his robots. "Get over here Dummy, clean this up. You'll need a mop. Clint, I made a few improvements to your hearing aid. It's a good thing 'waterproof' was one."<br>"What'd you do?" He asked, turning on the couch, fearing the answer.  
>"Not only does it aid hearing and act as comms link, I added a police scanner and Bluetooth hookup, and it's slightly smaller than before. The police scanner and Bluetooth are voice activated."<br>"Thanks." Clint slugged his friend in the arm as he slipped the new hearing aid in and switched it on. The upgrades weren't nearly as numerous as he'd thought they would be. "Bluetooth." He said as he pulled his phone out of his pocket, linking the two and turning on music for a second. "Nice."  
>"Thank you, JARVIS is making 3 more as we speak. Uh, why was that not in your personnel file?"<br>"Why were you in my personnel file?" Clint responded evenly.  
>"As leader of the Avengers, I need to know the strengths and weaknesses of my team."<br>"Tony, did you honestly think they'd give us full personnel files?" Steve asked. Clint's eyes shot to Natasha, had everyone else received intel on their teammates at some point?  
>"Cap leads sometimes." She shrugged.<br>"No, but even when I hacked into SHIELD databases your being deaf wasn't in there." Tony persisted.  
>"I doubt Natasha's entire history was there, either." Clint responded. "SHIELD knows you can hack them, they're going to prepare for it."<br>"Mmmm, true." His gaze shot to his robot. "No, Dummy, you can't mop up ice cubes. You, get a dustpan and help." He pointed to the other robot and then the spill.


End file.
